Enhanced nonlinear refractive index in epsilon-near-zero materials
Optics
2016-06-15 v2
Abstract
New propagation regimes for light arise from the ability to tune the dielectric permittivity to extremely low values. Here we demonstrate a universal approach based on the low linear permittivity values attained in the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) regime for enhancing the nonlinear refractive index, which enables remarkable light-induced changes of the material properties. Experiments performed on Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films show a six-fold increase of the Kerr nonlinear refractive index () at the ENZ wavelength, located in the 1300 nm region. This in turn leads to ultrafast light-induced refractive index changes of the order of unity, thus representing a new paradigm for nonlinear optics.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1603.03581,
title = {Enhanced nonlinear refractive index in epsilon-near-zero materials},
author = {L. Caspani and R. P. M. Kaipurath and M. Clerici and M. Ferrera and T. Roger and M. Pietrzyk and A. Di Falco and J. Kim and N. Kinsey and V. M. Shalaev and A. Boltasseva and D. Faccio},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1603.03581},
year = {2016}
}